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Monday, 31 December 2007

We gathered in the parking lot of the Tram Museum in Woluwe this morning at 10am for a special walk to celebrate Sheila's 10 years of leading us. It was fun to see who was going to join us and how many. As it turned out ... it was a lucky 13!

Stopping along the former railway line that was made over into the walking, biking trail which we were following, it was time for a short break for this photo of the lucky walkers who were able to celebrate this great occasion.

There was a truly festive air as we gathered around a long grouping of tables on the terrace of the Kwak under their heating lamps! We were celebrating 10 years of Sheila's Monday walks which she recalled ... started with her first one in Ohain! It was truly something to think about ... all those treks through all kinds of Belgian weather ... and, she was always there to lead us! Great job, Sheila. Let's go for 10 more!

Saturday, 22 December 2007

To all the WIC walkers a VERY HAPPY 2008 from former enthusiastic walker Sibylle, now living in Germany, but following up your walks on the "blog". Love to you all, Sibylle

Paulette will be in Brussels over the holidays and hopes to work in a walk before heading back to CA, USA.

Jane reports it’s been 21C in beautiful, sunny Tenerife. Good enough for swimming. She is also enjoying her walking and says we have kept her in good shape for it.

Beverly and Alain are enjoying their new life in Angoulin-sur-Mer, FR and send seasons greetings!

Helen and Richard send greetings from Sydney, AU.

Maija sent a long note from Finland with her regards to all the walkers. It looks like no snow there for Christmas. She has tried the scones recipe and needs some help … (Jennifer to the rescue). Maija hopes to visit in Brussels again the end of April! Meanwhile, she keeps up with the blog religiously!

Antoinette enjoyed catching up with "old" friends at the Christmas luncheon. It was her first trip back to Brussels in over 3 years since her move to Switzerland. She looks forward to another visit.

Linda and Peter are in Brussels awaiting the birth of their 2nd grandchild ... any minute now! They return to Vallauris, FR on the 2nd. Linda will be back in March and hopes to join us then. Oops ... update: Lola Beatrice Rainbow Lester arrived on the evening of Jan. 5th, 2008! All are well ...

Our many "thanks" go to Denise (left) who offered to lead us this afternoon on a delightful walk through some of the back streets of Boitsfort including this "Place" with the home of the famous Belgian painter and sculptor, Rik Wouters (see plaque)! From here we made our way back into the forest and walked along the paths in a veritable fairyland of frosted trees and beautiful views!

YUM!!! ...and, many, many thanks to Anne who surprised us all with delicious mini home made Christmasy mince meat tarts! We passed them around under the table so that the management at Au Repos des Chasseurs wouldn't get upset with "imported goods"! They hardly noticed as they were busy taking care of late holiday lunchers.

Tuesday, 18 December 2007

And, ... now we give thanks to Jennifer's "Guru" for transcribing this Google image for her of our walk yesterday. We started and finished up in the left hand corner. After leaving the parking lot and crossing the street we then started our walk by turning left and wandered along passing the lakes. We stopped in the middle for our refreshments. Thanks ... Jennifer and Cliff!

Monday, 17 December 2007

Yes, it was cold but we had some beautiful views on this walk today. Most of us warmed up quickly and shared extra gloves when necessary to keep our hands and fingers warm. Jennifer provided the following statistics for our route: 8.7 km's, 2 hours 12 minutes, ascent =487 m's, av. speed = 3.9 km's and 480 calories! Thanks Jennifer for keeping us informed ...

Nine of us braved the frigid 1C weather this afternoon but we were rewarded with brilliant sunshine and NO MUD! For comparison you can view the photos of this time last week and see that we have made some progress in that regard. Today we had frozen paths and hard packed earth on our route.

Through the glass ... but, darkly! This was taken from outside our cafe stop looking into our joined tables. It actually turned out better than the one taken inside. Our stop was half way through today's walk which means we faced the cold again when we continued.

2 eggs2 soupspoons water250 gr. brown sugar65 gr.Apfelkraut (here, I buy Sirop de Liege made by Lambert they don't add sugar)1/2 a teaspoon of cardamom1 soupspoon of cinnamon65 gr. chocolate (dark chocolate) cut into small pieces using a kitchen machine1 spoon of rum aroma1/2 a teaspoon of baking powder125 gr. of almonds or hazelnuts (also cut into small pieces)35 gr. (I take at least 100 gr.) of Citronat (that is the German name and I always buy it in Germany). It is like lemon peel but the taste is a bit different.250 gr. flour

Beat eggs and water until foaming, then add the brown sugar, beat again, then add all the other ingredients.Take the baking tray from your oven. spread the bottom with a little butter or margarine, then spread the whole mixture on the baking tray. Put into oven for 20 minutes.Temperature 150 -180°.When it is ready, mix some icing sugar and water in a cup and spread it on top. I can be cut into pieces when it has cooled down a bit.

Friday, 14 December 2007

Off we went at a brisk pace with Inge (orange coat) in the lead from her own street. As you can tell it was an overcast day ... and at 3C we did not stop too often but found that if we kept going fast enough we would finally warm up!

Inge took us on a circuitous walk through woods, field, up hills and down, through village streets and managed to avoid a lot of the mud which had resulted from all the rain of the past several weeks. It was clear she knew her "neighborhood" well!

Our thanks to Brian for this photo ... (photography being just one of his many talents ... apparently) ... of the 8 of us who were fortunate to accept Inge and Brian's hospitality after the walk. We sat in their dining room with the views to their lovely garden and surrounded by Inge's own paintings which accompanied so nicely her decor! The pleasure was all ours!

Apologies for this photo which is a bit askew but we did want to show some of the remainder of Inge's delicious offerings after we more or less "dug into them"! Not only were the tea and coffee served piping hot and just what we needed after our brisk walk in the cold afternoon air but the chocolates and other delicacies including Inge's own "Berlin Bread" were very welcome indeed! Our many thanks...

And, many thanks go to our hostess, Inge, (left) and host, Brian, for taking such good care of all of us this afternoon in their comfortable home. Does Brian hire out??? He was excellent preparing the hot drinks and serving us so elegantly... plus, he filled in as photographer, too!!!